


what if it was you? (you that i needed all along)

by bloomings



Category: ONEUS (Band), ONEWE (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Awkwardness, First Dates, First Kiss, M/M, Maybe One-Sided???, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-10-31 10:33:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17847788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bloomings/pseuds/bloomings
Summary: Seoho chews slowly as he watches Hwanwoong type out his answer.“Who is that?” he asks when Hwanwoong’s phone rings again.“Oh, um,” Hwanwoong, puts his phone face down, going back to his food, “some kid from my history class.  You - he was here once because we had that stupid class presentation?”Seoho gives him a look, swallowing the bite of food he had been eating.“The really tall one?” he asks, “that like literally almost died twice just walking in here?”“Yeah, him,” Hwanwoong shrugs as he picks at his food, “I have a date with him this Saturday.”





	what if it was you? (you that i needed all along)

**Author's Note:**

> for a prompt from my cc (: it didn't really have any specifications except for the pairing to be keonhee/hwanwoong
> 
> inspired by that your cute/you're tweet!

The warm spring sun washes over his room, Hwanwoong can already feel how heavy his eyes feel, sleep quickly taking over.  But he has work to do and it’s only one in the afternoon. If he’s not careful a nap can turn into a full day event and he really can’t afford to sleep his days away.

Still, he closes his eyes, rolling on his stomach, legs pushing against the headrest of his bed, letting his head drop heavily on his folded arms.

“Just five minutes,” he says to himself, opening his eyes for a second, closing them again when they hurt from their tiredness.

He startles awake when his phone rings, a notification of a message.  He’s eyes have a hard time staying open, hand reaching back to where he can feel his phone pressing against his leg.

The name in the notification banner is _Lee Keonhee_.  He remembers adding his number when they had done some pair work for a class notes presentation.

He swipes it lazily, watching as his messaging app opens and loads, showing the little bubbles holding their previous messages.

The most recent message is from a month ago, from the other boy, a simple, _hey i sent you the finished notes :)_

And the new one, from a minute ago.

_hey? so not to be really weird or whatever but i think your cute_

Hwanwoong reads it a couple of times, mind still sleep addled, fingers pressing on the screen to type out his message.

_you’re_

He types out slowly, hits send and drops his phone back on the bed, closes his eyes and goes back to sleep.

When he wakes up the sun is gone and the streetlight next to his window glows a dull orange across the carpet floor.

He sits up, body hurting, shivering as the warmness of sleep eases away.  

“What time is it?” he asks out loud, voice rough, as he grabs for his phone.

His phone shows 6:27 pm, which means Seoho is probably home, and another message notification from _Lee Keonhee_.  

He unlocks his phone, curious as of why his classmate has sent him so many messages.

_oh my god?? really??????_

_i mean i think your really cute too obviously_

_but i didnt think you feel the same_

_i guess maybe do you want to go out somewhere_

_like this weekend?_

Hwanwoong shrugs as he types out his answer, not really letting himself think it through

_sure_

-

Seoho passes him food without a word, giving Hwanwoong a bowl of noodles and pieces of crispy chicken, sitting across from him nudging him with his foot when Hwanwoong doesn’t move.

“Did you just wake up? You look kinda dazed,” Seoho laughs at him, lips already curling into a teasing smile.

“Yeah,” he says, picks up his chopsticks and starts eating slowly.  They sit in silence for a couple of seconds before Hwanwoong’s phone pings again and Hwanwoong stops eating enough to pick it up.

**Lee Keonhee**

**5 new messages**

_wow ok_

_how about saturday at 1 pm?_

_we can meet in the library lobby?_

_if your free i mean_

_just let me know !_

Hwanwoong is finally awake enough to read the entire but short conversation.  He answers as he thinks about the situation he’s put himself in it.

_that’s fine, i can do that_

Seoho chews slowly as he watches Hwanwoong type out his answer.

“Who is that?” he asks when Hwanwoong’s phone rings again.

“Oh, um,” Hwanwoong, puts his phone face down, going back to his food, “some kid from my history class.  You - he was here once because we had that stupid class presentation?”

Seoho gives him a look, swallowing the bite of food he had been eating.

“The really tall one?” he asks, “that like literally almost died twice just walking in here?”

“Yeah, him,” Hwanwoong shrugs as he picks at his food, “I have a date with him this Saturday.”

Seoho stops eating then, leaning closer, “what?” he says.

Hwanwoong, sighs, leaning his arms against the table, pushing his bowl away from him, “he asked me out and I said sure.”

Seoho looks confused,stares at him until Hwanwoong is forced to talk again.

“I was trying to sleep and he sent me a message.  He said something about me being cute but he didn’t use the right you’re so I corrected him, right?” Hwanwoong pauses, “but I guess he thought I was calling him cute too.”

When he looks up, he sees the way Seoho, bites down on his bottom lip, obviously trying to not laugh.  Hwanwoong appreciates this.

“Why didn’t you-” Seoho takes a deep breath suppressing a giggle, “why didn’t you correct him?”

Hwanwoong, again sighing in exasperation, merely shrugs, feeling completely unbothered by it all, “I don’t know, maybe it won’t be too bad,” he sits up a little, “I’ll feel bad saying no now.”

-

It’s Friday morning and Hwanwoong hates how cold it still gets early in the day.  His teeth chatter louder, wrapping his arms around himself.

Harin turns to look at him, long arms reaching to pull him closer, squeezing his shoulder.

“You should have worn a jacket,” he says, more or less dragging Hwanwoong across the empty quad.

“You literally dragged me out of my bed,” Hwanwoong complains, squinting his eyes as the morning sun rises past clouds.

“You said you would suffer with me this morning,” Harin reminds him, “because you’re a really good friend.”

“Well,” Hwanwoong, frowns, recognizing the familiar cobblestone path to the library, “it’s really not my fault you have a stupid finance major.”

“But it is your fault that you promised me this,” Harin smiles at him, clearly pleased with his logic, “so shut up, I’ll buy you coffee.”

Hwanwoong does shut up, if only because the cafe attached to the library has really good coffee and it’s maybe a bit too much to splurge on as much as he would like.

When they enter the library lobby, there’s no one there.  Harin pulls him along towards the cafe, the light fixtures on the wall dim in the morning sun.  Harin pushes through the quickly filling cafe, filing up in line, nudging Hwanwoong to ask what he wants to drink.

Hwanwoong scans the drinks menu, eyes settling on a new milky coffee promotion, he points at it, movements still sluggish.

He trails to the side as Harin waits to order their drinks, eyes glassy and unfocused as he stares at the way students enter and leave the shop.  

It’s not the sounds of the drink machines, or the orders being called out that snap him out of his faraway thoughts.  

Someone knocks into him, a gentle bump against his shoulder that’s enough to have him blink back into the cafe, turning his head to the side and _way up_ to meet the eyes of the person who has saved him from his daydream.

There’s a faint dusting of rosy pink across Lee Keonhee’s nose, spreading, unfurling ever so slowly across his chubby cheeks.  It’s faint, faint enough that Hwanwoong can almost convince himself that it’s not there.

“Hi,” Keonhee says quickly, hand up in greeting, flopping right back to his side.  

“Hey,” Hwanwoong, gives him a small, polite smile, blinking to make the fuzziness around his eyes go away.

They don’t say anything after that, Hwanwoong’s neck is starting to hurt from looking at the other boy, waiting to see if he’ll say or do anything else.

It’s a bit awkward, Hwanwoong vaguely entertains the idea of saying something but then Harin is next to him, holding two drinks in his hands, looking at Hwanwoong and then at Keonhee with a questioning gaze.

Keonhee’s own eyes shift away from Hwanwoong to Harin, to the drinks in his hands and then back between the smallest boy and the boy holding the drinks.

He goes through a lot of emotions, Hwanwoong watches as they flicker, clear as the bright spring sun, across his face before they settle into a poor attempt at a cool, nonchalant expression.

“Am I -?” Keonhee frowns, “Sorry, am I interrupting something?”

Hwanwoong shakes his head, takes the drink from Harin, “No, Harin is just being a terrible friend,” he pouts naturally, without much thought.

“Hey,” Harin ignores Hwanwoong’s complain, taking a sip of his drink, “I’m Harin, you’re friends?”

Keonhee nods, too quickly, “yeah, you can say that,” he laughs, takes a step back, “I have to go, I have a class,” his gaze turns back towards Hwanwoong, now complacent as he sips his drink, “I’ll see you tomorrow?” Keonhee asks him, expression nervous, unsure.

“Yeah,” Hwanwoong says without pause, “here at 1, right?”

The smile that spreads across Keonhee’s lips is relieved, Hwanwoong watches as it appears slowly but unstoppable, “yeah, here,” Keonhee takes another step back, “ok, yeah, see you here, tomorrow at 1.”

He turns around with a stiff wave good-bye, walks out of the shop and Hwanwoong turns back towards the library lobby.

-

It had taken entirely too long to wake up on time for this date.

He had kept his alarms on from his classes, too early in the morning (11 am).  And like always he had managed to sleep pass all of them, pressing snooze through all of them.  Eventually Seoho had shaken him awake, as always ruthless and pestering until Hwanwoong sat up annoyed, pushing the older boy away, mood already sour.

“Don’t you have your date today,” Seoho asks from where he’s ended up on the edge of the bed.

He waits now, in the light wash jeans Seoho had picked for him, his white t-shirt, not trying too hard, Seoho had said.

Hwanwoong is early, mostly because Seoho had been entirely annoying, fussing over him and asking way too many questions.

He sits on one of the single seating couches lined up against the back wall, smiling at the librarian who glances at him.  He can see through the glass doors, watches as students come and go from the cafe, the doors sliding open as some enter the library with coffee cups and pastries in their hands.  His knee shakes nervously, although he’s not sure why.

Eventually, almost mercifully, he spots Keonhee walking toward the doors.  He watches as he smooths down his hair, looks down at himself with a big sigh.

He enters through the sliding doors, their eyes meet and Keonhee’s smile falters, a fraction of a second before he seems to force himself to offer a wide smile.

Hwanwoong blinks at how perfectly perfect his teeth are, a smile that Hwanwoong had probably only seen on magazines.

When Keonhee gets close enough Hwanwoong can see it again, the faint rose tint spread across his cheeks, eyes nervous.

“Hi,” Keonhee says, standing a couple of steps away from Hwanwoong, “sorry if you waited too long?”

Hwanwoong shakes his head, stands up as he checks his phone, “you said 1pm, I just got here early, you’re good.”

They stand there, again in silence, awkward, Hwanwoong wonders if he’s doing something wrong.

“Do you - ah do you want to go now?” Keonhee asks, eyes shifting away from him, not looking at Hwanwoong.

“Sure,” he says, stepping towards the door, “where are we going?”

-

Hwanwoong’s shoulder is pressed against Keonhee’s side,  The shuttle bus is full of students, and Hwanwoong notices how uncomfortably Keonhee’s long legs bend to fit into the small space between their seat and the glass divider of the bus.

The mall parking lot is crowded as well but Hwanwoong is thankful to get out of the cramped bus, smiling to himself as he stretches.

Of course the mall is packed when they finally enter, families and packs of friends walking from store to store, taking up space and filling it up with noise.  Hwanwoong shuffles a bit closer to Keonhee, afraid of getting left behind, but doesn’t say anything as they walk around people.

He ends up being led to an ice cream kiosk, the line littered with parents and their small children.  Keonhee turns to look at him, smiling sheepishly before pointing at he menu, “what flavor do you want?”

Hwanwoong doesn’t look at the menu, opting for a vanilla cone.

“Really?” Keonhee asks, “you can pick whatever you want, I promise.”

“I want vanilla,” Hwanwoong, says, a simple statement, “it’s my favorite.”

“Oh, ok,” Keonhee backs down, ducking his head down.

“What?” Hwanwoong asks, unsure of what this whole exchange is leading up to.

“Nothing,” Keonhee presses his his lips together, smile pushing through, perfect set of teeth once again on display.  

Up close Hwanwoong swears they glint and shine, blinding him into blinking a couple of times.

“What?” he repeats again, not happy with the other's answer.

“It’s cute,” Keonhee concedes, looking away from him.  Hwanwoong frowns.

They get their ice cream, Keonhee getting chocolate with some toppings in a plastic bowl, rainbow sprinkles and bright red cherry on top.

It’s over the top and childish, Hwanwoong has to repress the need to roll his eyes.

Keonhee leads him to stores, looking only at the window displays, pointing at things he likes, things he thinks are pretty.  Hwanwoong nods along, eating his melting ice cream, offering his own opinion when the other leaves space for it.

They’ve reached a random handbag store when Keonhee turns to him, he has ice cream smudged on the corner of his lips and Hwanwoong looks away, licking his own lips self consciously.

“Do you want to go to the food court?” he asks, tilting his head to the side, in what Hwanwoong is suspicious it’s meant to be cute.

“If you want to, yeah,” he says.

Keonhee hand shoots forward quickly, reaching to grab at Hwanwoong’s.  It’s an awkward hold, Keonhee’s large hand clasping over Hwanwoong’s fingers at a weird angle.  He doesn’t really have much time to think or say something about it as Keonhee pulls him away from the pretty empty corner of the mall, towards the food court.

Keonhee pays for his food and Hwanwoong suddenly can’t escape the fact that his is in fact a date.  A whole date with strolling and ice cream and an early dinner. They find a small table to sit on, Keonhee crowding it with how much food he has bought between them.  Containers of rice and chicken, pork, noodles, fries, sauteed vegetables, crispy chicken fingers, drinks. Hwanwoong pulls his own food closer to himself, rice and stir fry and watches in awe as Keonhee begins to eat.  He eats like he’s never seen food before, he’s not even sure Keonhee is chewing. He watches as food disappears from the table, Keonhee smiling when he catches Hwanwoong’s stare.

“Do you want some more?” Keonhee asks once he’s done inhaling food, taking a sip of his drink, looking pointedly at how Hwanwoong’s own portion is mostly still there.

“No, I’m fine,” he says, taking a mouthful of rice.

He can feel Keonhee watching him eat and decides to stare right back.  

This time the blush dusting over Keonhee’s cheeks is darker, a darkening pink that is hard to ignore.

“Hey, listen,” Keonhee says, voice quiet, as if not to be heard by passerbyers, “thanks for coming out with me…” he trails off, bites the inside of his cheek, “I wasn’t really sure how my confession would go,” he blinks, looks away,”I’m glad the feelings are mutual.

Hwanwoong doesn’t answer at first, chewing thoughtfully.

He can say that the feelings are in fact not mutual, he can say that the whole thing was a big misunderstanding and that he just went along because it was easier.  But for some reason he doesn't say that, it gets stuck in his throat and it feels weird.

So instead he smiles at him, nodding as he says, “thanks for wanting to spend so much time with me.”

-

Keonhee buys them milkshakes afterwards because apparently he has a black hole where his stomach should be.  Hwanwoong asks for a vanilla one and grimaces to himself when Keonhee orders a chocolate caramel, pretzel cheesecake milkshake.  

The bus this time around is not as crowded and Keonhee happily sits in the back where his legs don’t look as cramped as before.  

They don’t really talk, Hwanwoong is starting to suspect it may be an issue with him.  He’s seen Keonhee in class, in the hallways, in the library. He’s always loud, talking too fast and too energetically.  But now, although they’ve had some sort of conversations and have _even held hands_ , it feels like Keonhee is on edge.

He turns to look at Keonhee when they get off at the university stop, stopping the other in his tracks as he waits for Hwanwoong to say something.

“I have to catch the bus home,” he explains slowly, “so I’ll stay here.”

“Oh,” Keonhee says, “I didn’t know you lived off campus.”

“It’s ok,” Hwanwoong reassures him, “it’s not far from here.”

The sun is starting to set and the sun glints off the windows from the nearby buildings, it blinds Hwanwoong and it’s in that moment that he feels the way Keonhee _collides_ their mouths together.

It hurts, his teeth gnash at his bottom lip but the pain fades into his thundering heart, lips tasting the sugary taste of the milkshake Keonhee had sipped moments ago.

He wonders if he tastes like vanilla, boring and underwhelming, but figures Keonhee must like it if he’s still trying to kiss him.

Maybe Keonhee reads minds, he thinks stupidly, when his lungs start to burn and Keonhee pulls away, blush a blazing red, eyes shifting nervously.  His breath is uneven and Hwanwoong almost feels bad about it.

“You broke my lip,” he says, putting his hand to where he feels the sting of the cut.

Keonhee’s own lips are bruised red.  They’re swollen and Hwanwoong is suddenly forced to think about how pretty the other's mouth really is.

“Oh, fuck, I’m so sorry,” Keonhee says, his own hands going to touch Hwanwoong’s bottom lip.  It doesn’t really make it better, curiously, it sends some sort of fluttery feeling in his stomach, but it’s gone before he can take another deep breath.

He pushes his hand away, gentle, to avoid more misunderstandings.

“It’s ok,” he says, running his tongue over it, “I’ll fix it when I get home.”

“I’m really sorry, honestly, I just - “

Hwanwoong shakes his head.  He looks away and sees his bus getting to the corner of campus.

“Don’t worry about it,” he says, “I’m not going to die, ok?”

Keonhee nods, big eyes looking suspiciously like he wants to cry.

“Thanks for today, though.” Hwanwoong says, hoping to ease the atmosphere, “and for paying for all the food, next time I’ll have to treat.”

That seems to be enough for Keonhee, who blinks back the shininess in his eyes, mouth already running before he can think, “ _next time_ , right, next time you can pay.”

Hwanwoong smiles, turns to look as his bus begins to pull over, people climbing down the steps once it makes a full stop.

“Ok,” he says taking a couple of steps back, motioning at the bus, “I have to go.”

“OK, yeah,” Keonhee nods at him, eyes wide, mouth dropping into another stupidly bright smile.

The bus has barely rolled away from the stop when his phone pings with a notification.

Hwanwoong knows who it is but it still feels unexpected when he sees _Lee Keonhee_ in his notifications.

_are you free after class this monday?_

**Author's Note:**

> this was written as a prompt fill !
> 
> find me/talk to me about this fic or other fics or give me ideas/prompts/talk to me about onewe and oneus (if you wanna) on my [twitter](https://twitter.com/bIoomingly) / [cc](https://curiouscat.me/bloomings)
> 
> thanks for supporting my journey to write more fic for these two fandoms lol


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